A couple of weeks ago French Christians got their rosaries all knotted up over a play called The Concept of the Face of the Son of God, which features a bunch of kids throwing grenades (the Christians originally thought it was poop) at a picture of Christ. Feces, hand grenades, whatever it was, American Christians know how to take a little blasphemy with a grain of salt. There weren't any public protests about Jesus sucking his own dick in Bill Zebub's Dolla Morte or Linda Blair dildo-ing her vagina with a crucifix in The Exorcist, right? Point is, French believers take that sort of stuff seriously. Here is what happened at last month's march in Paris.
Photos by Elvire Camus It is just after 6 PM on Saturday, October 29, and the demonstration is already underway. Rue des Pyramides is crawling with people brandishing blue, white, and red flags. Latecomers collect their banners under the gilded statue of Joan of Arc on Place des Pyramides, before swelling the ranks of the procession, which is already en route to the Opera. These 1500 Catholics have gathered here to protest blasphemous plays.Every generation is represented in the procession’s demographics. There are loads of old folk, who have come in couples and groups, but there are also a bunch of young people sporting hipster hair, signet rings, and aviator sunglasses. They wouldn’t look out of place at a Young Democrats’ conference.
Damien, 24, describes himself as an "organist" (he doesn’t actually play an organ—his job is to organize confirmations and other religious ceremonies). He’s a nice guy and doesn’t mince his words. “I’ve come all the way from Boulogne-sur-Mer, along with 50 friends, to denounce the insult made to the image of Christ.” To be more precise, Damien, his pals, and the other 1,449 demonstrators are incredibly pissed at Roméo Castelluci’s play, The Concept of the Face of the Son of God, which was being performed at the Théâtre de la Ville.The root of the unrest appears to be a misunderstanding over one of the scenes in the play, wherein children come onstage and throw shit at a giant portrait of Christ. In actuality, they are throwing fake hand grenades. Still, there is no disputing the fact that by the end of the play the portrait is torn to pieces. “How would you feel if someone threw shit at a photo of your mother in the name of art?” asks Damien, hoping to warm us up to his cause.Slogans like “no more Christianophobia!” and “scatophiles exiled!” are hushed to make way for prayer. An a cappella Hail Mary echoes in the heart of Paris. That’s when we lose Damien and come face to face with the Islamic fundamentalists.
Two dozen members of the French Zahra center have brought their own television cameras with them. Jamel Tahiri, president of the organization, marches on, stubbornly oblivious to the crowd’s “France must remain Christian!” chant. “We are here to express our solidarity with Christians,” explains M. Tahiri. “We are here to request true freedom of expression—one that is not defamatory and does not seek to undermine the dignity of man.” Before they leave, they also mention that they are “anti-zionist and anti-vermin.” Behind the display of respect and ecumenical open-mindedness, this is mostly a PR stunt for them.
It is almost 7 PM when we arrive at the Paris Opera. Cries of “Christus Vincit” have set the crowd on fire and loosened tongues. We chatted up a bunch of 12 and 13-year-old schoolgirls, who are anything but shy when it comes to religious matters, and some old Polish women who tell us that “the Freemasons are at it again.”
Said polish grandmothers, members of the Order of the Knights of Jesus Christ.We chat to the guys from Action Française, the monarchist splinter group who march behind the flags of Christianity and the Kingdom of France. Their mission is “to protect French Christian culture.” We also meet Hughes, a 23-year-old chef. He kindly demystifies the ubiquitous blue, white, and red flag with the heart in the middle, circled by a crown of thorns and adorned with a small cross. “It is the flag of the sacred heart. It means that Christ-King must reign over France. Our country has Christian roots, and those who know history, know that France itself is the church’s eldest daughter, after Saint Joan of Arc.”
The flag of the Sacred Heart, streamlined version.As the night goes on, it becomes harder to ignore references to the “Sacerdotal Brotherhood of Saint-Pius X.” It would appear that this Catholic clerical society (which has an affiliation with the church of Saint Nicolas du Chardonnet, in the 5th arrondissement), is responsible for the presence of traditional Catholic families at the demonstration.
A brotherhood minister offers to lift the veil on this famous Christ-King malarkey. For one thing, his disciples are opposed to the French 1905 law on the separation of church and state, believing instead that French institutions have a lot to gain from following Christian law. He explains that France is in the grips of a moral crisis that could be solved by the church. The minister also has a gripe with what he describes as constant, unpunished Catholic-bashing. “During the Muslim cartoon controversy, city hall sent out a press release calling for the respect of all religions. For this, nothing! On Thursday, October 27, police arrested 140 young people because they were praying outside the theater with chaplets. If the same thing had happened to Muslims, the intelligentsia would be up in arms against the police. What is happening is we are turning a blind eye to the persecution of Catholics.”
It boils down to Christians being sick and tired of turning the other cheek and forgiving those who trespass against them. “God is love, God is love… sure, but we’re tired of the insults,” confesses Maximilien, a member of the Civitas Institute that first called for protest. Isabelle Collin, a gorgeous 19-year-old brunette in the crowd agreed, “I am here to defend our Faith, which is too often trampled.” She feels that with Catholicism, everything is fair game. “But it’s not fair,” she said. She is also a member of the Society Saint-Pius X because she finds it more authentic. “Where I come from, the village pastor walks around in shorts and flip-flops in the summer. It’s totally unacceptable!”
Now it’s dark and pouring rain, but the procession shows no sign of shrinking. A man at the very front carries a huge wooden cross. The mood is fervent and exalted. Slogans and prayers are amplified through a PA mounted on top of a U-Haul truck. People peer out of windows to see what all the fuss is about. The crowd applauds them, and demonstrators hand them rosary beads, inviting them to join the march.
By 8 PM the march is over. Demonstrators have arrived at Place Andé Malraux, where they continue to sing and yell. Church candles and torches are lit as Alain Escada, secretary general of the Civitas Institute, climbs on top of the U-Haul to start his address. The artists involved in the scandal, Roméo Castelluci, Rodrigo Garcia, and Andres Serrano, are admonished. Frédéric Mitterrand, Bertrand Delanoë, the entire Sarkozy government, and even Le Monde newspaper are all heckled for their “complicity.”Then the speaker riles up the adoring crowd. “After the Arab Spring, I promise you a Catholic Fall!” he yells before lampooning “secular hipster snobs.” Once the address is over, the mic is handed over to the head honcho at the Society of Saint-Pius X, who kicks off half an hour of Hail Marys. Kneeling down in puddles of rain, the crowd repeats after him, in unison.
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